Police who come under attack in Northern Ireland should be allowed to take stronger action against rioters, the father of a seriously injured officer said today.

He spoke out after police video footage showed his daughter on the ground being saved by fellow officers after she was struck on the head with a breeze block in one of the most violent incidents marking the 12 July Orange Order parades.

Her attackers threw missiles at other Police Service of Northern Ireland officers and paramedics who came to her aid.

But senior officers have since said that their tactics were the best way to prevent loss of life and have warned that video images would be used to arrest suspects as part of the investigation.

The parent of the unnamed officer, who is in a stable condition in hospital, told local radio: "Visiting my daughter in hospital made me really angry and I can't understand why they were just standing there and nobody gets arrested.

"I watched TV footage of earlier on that day and there was guys on the rooftops, they were obviously the people that were dropping the breeze blocks, why couldn't they have been arrested?

"My daughter was 15 years of age when she wanted to join the police.

"She worked in Israel and she came back and joined the police and loves the work, but when I saw her lying there last night I thought, why should she do it?

"And I don't understand why people aren't getting arrested."

The PSNI has said that breaking the cordon officers set up around rioters risked leaving police open to more serious attack from dissident republicans, who were using the riot as a cover to target officers with bombs and guns.

On the Ardoyne riot and the reluctance of the police to arrest those involved at the scene, Ford said: "Every time they [PSNI] would have arrested someone it required taking an arresting officer away from the frontline. Those police officers were better used dealing with trouble.

"What we have to ensure is that we follow up the video evidence and people are made amenable to the laws for the crimes they committed."

Meanwhile, the prime minister, David Cameron, today branded the attacks on police officers as "completely unacceptable".

There have been disturbances for three days at various locations across Northern Ireland and the latest police figures state 83 officers were injured.

Police came under gunfire from gangs armed with a pistol in Derry and with a shotgun in the North Queen Street area of Belfast. The worst violence erupted in Ardoyne, where up to six shots were fired at officers last night.

All of the areas where the violence flared – Lurgan, Armagh city, Derry, Ardoyne and the Lower Ormeau – all have pockets of republican dissidents based there. Sinn Féin and the PSNI have claimed republicans opposed to the peace process orchestrated the violence across the north of Ireland over the last 72 hours.

Matt Baggott, the PSNI chief constable, met the first and deputy first ministers today at Stormont to discuss the trouble.

Speaking after the meeting the first minister, Peter Robinson, said he had "nothing but the highest admiration for the way the police has dealt with the difficulties of recent days".

Martin McGuinness, deputy first minister and Sinn Féin MP, described the violence as a "setback against the huge progress we have made in recent times".

McGuinness added that those behind the violence "would not succeed" in disrupting the political progress.

In a display of unity with Northern Ireland's top two politicians, the chief constable insisted there was no rift between the PSNI command and Stormont leaders. Yesterday one of Baggott's officers said that politicians were not doing enough to solve the marching dispute.

Baggott said: "I have never had a rift with my colleagues standing to the left and right of me here. We are absolutely determined that we will make progress and do the right things."

A republican residents group in Ardoyne not aligned to Sinn Féin has calledfor an end to violence in their area.

The Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective said protests against Orange parades passing by their area should be peaceful and dignified.